Thursday 6th May - Sunday 9th May (6° 53.509'N - 116° 51.545'E)
We agreed with the boatyard that they would supply the paint for the anti-fouling. This would take a few days since it had to be sent from somewhere else. They estimated that it would probably arrive by the following Monday so we agreed to have the boat lifted on Monday morning. We spent the next few days anchored in the pool finishing up a few odd jobs and finding our way around Kudat. It isn't very big so that wasn't too hard. We spent a lot of time poking around hardware shops looking for the best (or only) places to find odd bits and pieces.
 

Monday 10th May - Saturday 15th May(6° 53.509'N - 116° 51.545'E)
We were up early to make sure there was no hitch with the hoist. Mara 2 was going back into the water first then we would be lifted and moved into her place in the yard. When they were ready we motored gently into the dock and Ah Siaow carefully positioned the crane so that the lifting straps were in the right place. The positioning is fairly critical. If the straps are too far back they could slip off the keel and damage the propeller shaft, if too far forward the boat could slip out backwards. When Ah Siaow was satisfied Carillon was carefully lifted from the water and placed in the yard propped up on concrete blocks. The bottom didn't look too bad, the antifouling maybe a bit thin in places but no serious growth. A high pressure hose was used to clear any dirt, weed and barnacles.
The paint had arrived so Tuesday morning the barrier coat went on. Our painter is called Ismail (or I smile), he seems quite cheerful and works pretty hard. The first coat is on by early afternoon so it should be dry well before tomorrow morning ready for the next coat. We wanted a stainless steel frame made for the back of the boat to support rigid solar panels since the flexible ones we have are not as efficient as we had hoped. A contractor was appointed and he promised the frame for Thursday. The second coat of antifouling went on on Wednesday and the third and last on Thursday. The white stripes above the waterline had become very stained and dirty and the paint was in poor condition in parts so we decided to have them redone. Spraying would give the best result but it was too windy so we decided to have them brushed. The finish is not quite so good but the alternative was sitting in the yard waiting for calm weather. By Thursday the stainless steel contractor still hadn't got the steel let alone finished the frame so we cancelled that job. We can get it done in KK when we have more time. The white stripes are finished by Friday so Saturday she can go back into the water. We found the yard friendly, helpful and very reasonably priced. One of the other jobs we had to have done was to free up two thru-hull fittings that had become jammed. Steve had tried everything but he couldn't get them apart to clean them up. Ah Siaow worked on them for 2 days, he even made a special spanner to fit. Eventually he got them cleaned up and working again. One of them was the water cooling intake for the engine so fairly critical.
While Carillon was out of the water we stayed in the Ria Hotel in Kudat. It was a small fairly basic hotel but spotlessly clean and efficiently run. It made a nice change to have crisp clean white sheets and air conditioning for sleeping. We got quite friendly with the local hardware shops buying chain, wire, paintbrushes and various other items not usually found on tourists shopping lists. Kudat is a small town, not usually on the tourist trail and has no tourist infrastructure. The restaurants are mostly cafe style and all seemed to have much the same menu which was fried rice with chicken, beef or fish, fried noodles with chicken beef or fish, soup with chicken, beef or fish. There is one more upmarket restaurant specialising in seafood. There's no menu, you just look in the tanks and choose your fish or lobster and they fish it out with a net and cook it for you. Guaranteed fresh!
Saturday morning we went to the fruit and vegetable market to stock up ready to leave on Sunday. Everything looked pretty fresh. We can buy apples here as well as the usual bananas, pineapple, mango and papaya which makes a nice change. It's watermelon season at the moment so everywhere there are huge piles of watermelons. With the shopping done and stowed and the sun cover off we're all ready to leave in the morning.

Sunday 16th May (6° 53.509'N - 116° 51.545'E)
Today we're heading for Pulau Mantanani (Mantanani Island). It's about 50 miles so we need to leave early. We leave Kudat around 6:30 and are able to sail up to the northernmost tip of Borneo before turning southwest towards Kota Kinabalu. Unfortunately once we turn the corner the wind is against us blowing around 16 knots. New coastline new hazards - on this coast it isn't fishing markers we have to look out for it's floating logs up to 10 - 15 metres in length. We see quite a few throughout the day and decide it would not be a good coast to sail at night. By about 15:00 we're still 20 miles from Pulau Mantanani so rather than arrive in the dark we motor the last few hours. We have to anchor on the NE side since the winds and swell are coming from the SW. The reef comes out a long way on this side so the anchorage is very open and uncomfortably rolly.

Monday 17th May(6° 43.168'N - 116° 22.069'E)
We only have 20 miles to go today. We're heading for Teluk Usukan. The wind is right on the nose again until we get to within 6 miles or so of the coast then the shore breeze swings it round to the west. Now we can sail slightly off the wind at about 6 - 7 knots watching out for floating logs. Wouldn't like to hit a big one at 7 knots - it could do some serious damage. The bay is a litle exposed to the swell but we're able to tuck into a little cove by the village where it's very calm. There are no bancas here, the local fishermen use more conventional shaped boats powered with either inboard or outboard engines or a paddle. In the evening the small boats are paddled out and the local people fish by hanging a line over the side. A small boat not far from us must have been over a large shoal of fish since they were catching a small fish every few seconds.

Tuesday 18th May(6° 21.947'N - 116° 18.071'E)
We decided to stay here today. We managed to clean some of the boatyard dirt from the cockpit but the decks and cabintop will have to wait until we get to KK where we'll have unlimited water.. We shutdown and pickled the watermaker before we went into Kudat and won't recomission it again until we leave KK. This afternoon a boat with four girls and a load of watermelons came alongside. The girls offered us a watermelon for 2 ringgits - I'm not sure if that was a good price or not but the melon was very fresh and crisp with yellow flesh instead of the usual red.
 

Wednesday 19th May(6° 21.947'N - 116° 18.071'E)
 We just sailed a few miles round the corner today to Teluk Ambon for a change of scenery. There were still big swells from the depression in the north west but the anchorage at Teluk Ambon is quite sheltered. There was a catamaran anchored in the bay. It was an unusual looking boat with the name in chinese characters at the forward end of he hulls and Arabic characters at the back. We thought the rig looked very small for the size of the boat and that the mast wasn't quite straight. We came to the conclusion later that it was actually a jury rig and that they must have lost the original rig somehow. During the day and evening we were approached by 3 small boats with young guys asking for alchohol.

Thursday 20th May(6° 18.642'N - 116° 18.071'E)
Today we go to KK. The winds are very light and against us, the current is also against us so we had to motor. Sailing was a non-starter. When we got to within 5 miles or so the wind picked up and we were able to sail for a while. When we were about an hour away we called the marina on channel 71 to let them know we were coming so when we went in there were 3 or 4 marina employees to show us where to go and help with the lines. We were allocated berth C13 which is on the inside end of the berths. There is a better breeze on the outside end so when someone near the outside end leaves we'll probably move to their berth.
We got the marina handyman to connect a plug to our shore power cable and for the first time ever we are able to run the air cons and freezer without running the engine or generator. The marina is part of a very large hotel and golf/country club complex. There are 2 hotels, about 18 restaurants/bars, 6 swimming pools (including a full Olympic sized pool), fitness centre, small film theatre, billiards room, bowling alley, free shuttle bus into town - after anchoring in isolated bays for the past year it's a bit of a culture shock.

Friday 21st May
 We started to get to know people from the other boats. We met Robin and Yan, (Yan makes boat covers and does various bits of canvas work and was able to alter our sun cover for us), Jean-Paul who can get anchors and chains regalvanised (we'll probably have our chain done while we're here) and Mike and Terri from Sea Quest (Terri is in the process of writing a book about one of their trips).
We checked in with the Port Authorities and immigration although we found we didn't really need to see immigration. In Malaysia the rules are that you check in and out with the authorities in every port whereas in the Philippines you check in when you enter the Philippines and check out when you leave.
Hank from Mara 2 had passed on a fact sheet compiled by other sailing people giving details of where the useful places were around town such as the Port Authority, Immigration, supermarkets, hardware shops and places to to get work of various kinds done. We found this very handy since usually when you go somewhere new you have to spend a lot of time finding your way around.

Saturday 22nd May - Tuesday 25th May
Over the last few days we've spent sometime organising some sightseeing trips. It's much easier to leave the boat here and see Sabah by land. It would be quite difficult to find other safe places to leave the boat while we went touring. We plan to go diving in Sipadan next week. It's supposed to be among the top ten dive sites in the world and rumour has it that the accommodation on the island will all be closed down at the end of the year as a conservation measure. A week or two after that we will hire a car and tour the Kinabalu National Park. We don't intend to climb Mount Kinabalu - we both agree that we've done our share of walking above the altitude sickness line in the Himalayas last year so we don't need to do it again. The third trip that we plan to do although we havn't organised anything yet, is to visit the Orang-Utan Sanctuary at Sepilok and to take a boat trip up the Kinabatangan River. This river has the largest concentration of wildlife in Malaysia so it should be worth seeing. I don't think there will be any problem filling the time while we're here.

Wednesday 26th May - Monday 31st May
We've arranged with Jean-Paul to have the chain regalvanised. It seems the place in Lankawi where we had planned to have it done is no longer there so it seems sensible to do it here. Jean-Paul has also organised someone to do the stainless steel work that we were going to have done in Kudat. This will be a frame on the back of the boat to take two rigid solar panels and to put a permanent mount for the wind generator. While we're here we'll also get Yan to recover the cockpit cushions since they're getting very scruffy and are torn in places. She will also replace the centre clear panel in the dodger since because of the effect of the sun it is now an opaque panel.
We checked out the local chart agent hoping to get the same good deal that we got in the Philippines. We were disappointed. There were very few charts in stock, they could be ordered but were very expensive. The local Malaysian charts were more expensive than Admiralty charts and the Admiralty charts were almost double the cost of buying from the UK so we'll probably buy from the UK.
We're getting into the routine here now - an hour or two in the fitness centre first thing in the morning, a swim last thing in the afternoon and fit the jobs in between not forgetting the Sunday Brunch Buffet at The Pacific Sutera - excellent value at RM25 (US$6.50 or £3.50).

Tuesday 1st June - Friday 4th June
Sipadan
We have a 0610 flight to Tawau this morning so we have to be up at 0400 for a pickup to the airport. At Tawau a minibus is waiting to take us to Semporna and after a few minutes wait we get on a Borneo Divers boat for Sipadan. Everything went pretty smoothly and after stopping briefly at Mabul to drop someone off we arrived at Sipadan around 1030. There was quite a big swell so it was a pretty bumpy ride. On arrival we were welcomed by the PR lady and given a tour of the dive centre and resort facilities. They seemed fairly well organised. Meals were buffet style and hot and cold drinks were on tap all day. There were strict rules about not walking around the island at night  unless you were with an official turtle watching group. Turtles come ashore at night to lay their eggs so it's important that they're not disturbed. There was an obvious military presence presumably to prevent another incident of hostage taking by the Abu Sayyef.
The island is quite small. It's possible to walk all the way round it in about 20 - 30 minutes. It stands on a reef with a drop-off all the way round to a depth of about 600 metres. Just in front of the Borneo Divers Resort the drop-off is only a few metres from the beach whereas elsewhere it's up to half a mile off the island. After our introductory tour we did an orientation dive then later a dive with just ourselves and three others from our group. These dives you do from the beach since the drop-off is so close. We saw many fish, some small white-tip reef sharks and quite a few turtles. The turtles here are mainly Green turtles and Hawksbill turtles. The visibility was not particularly good because of the rough seas but there was still quite a lot to see.
On the second day we did three boat dives. We saw numerous turtles - they're not at all nervous of divers and will swim within touching distance and be quite unconcerned. The ones we saw ranged from 1/2 to 11/2 metres in length and were either swimming sedately along the wall or were tucked into a crevice feeding on the coral. There were many white tipped reef sharks either swimming along the wall or laying in the sand at the top of the reef. They were from 3/4 to 2 metres. The highlight of the second dive was swimming through a shoal of about 8000 jackfish - they seemed to go on forever. We were able to drift into the middle of the shoal and they simply swam around us. We also saw some enormous batfish and a very large Napolean wrasse.
IIn the evening we went on the Turtle Walk in the hope of seeing a turtle laying her eggs. The female makes her way up the beach and into the trees at the top then looks for a suitable place for her nest. When she finds one she digs a hole large enough for herself then a smaller hole in the large hole for the eggs. She positions herself over the smaller hole and starts to lay. She lays between 70 and 120 eggs then covers them with sand and makes her way back into the sea. Normally from then on they're on their own but at Sipadan they get a helping hand. Once the turtle has returned to the sea the eggs are removed and placed in a safe hatchery. 98% of the eggs will hatch and the baby turtles are then released into the sea. We were lucky enough to watch a turtle laying her eggs and felt it was a very special experience.
The third day we would again do three dives. There was a lot of wind and rain overnight so the sea was still churned up and the visibility not so good. We could see maybe 15 - 20 metres. We were hoping to see one or two Barracuda today and felt quite excited when we saw 7 or 8 - then we ran into a whole shoal - there must have been a thousand swimming all around us - an unforgettable experience. Again we saw turtles and reef sharks and more batfish, also moray eels and garden eels and numerous reef fish. There was quite a strong current over the dive site and we lost the divemaster. We knew he was behind us somewhere with some of the other divers so we drifted along the reef and met up with him again at the end of the dive. There were many unicorn fish, moorish idols, bannerfish, butterfly and angel fish, anemone fish, leaf fish, large wrasse and numerous other types. The coral was not so good but the marine life was excellent.
On our fourth day we had to leave. We were flying that day so couldn't dive so we took the opportunity to walk around the island. There were innumerable remains of turtle nests - it seems to be an important area for nesting turtles. We spent the rest of the morning relaxing on the sun deck watching the snorkellers and the occasional turtle swimming just off the beach. Just as we were getting ready to leave a monitor lizard wandered into the resort. It was quite large and we were not sure if they were aggressive or not but then the cook brought out a bowl of noodles and some eggs and started feeding it so we decided it was probably a regular visitor.
The resorts at Sipadan have been instructed by the Malaysian Government to close their operations on Sipadan by the end of the year and clear the infrastructure from the island. If this is for ecological reasons we can sympathise - there is such an abundance of marine life here compared to other places we've been that it certainly seems worth protecting. It will still be possible to dive at Sipadan by staying at resorts on nearby Mabul and coming over by boat.
We left Sipadan feeling that we would very much like to return to dive there again.

Sunday 13th June - Thursday 17th June
Kinabalu Park/Poring Hot Springs
Rather than go on an organised package to Mt Kinabalu and Poring Hot Springs we rented a car. That way we could go in our own time at our own pace. We'd arranged to stay one night at Poring Hot Springs and two nights at Kinabalu Park. At Poring there are various pools fed by hot springs where you can swim or just lie around and a public area with lots of baths in the open air. There are also some private baths some with jacuzzi. We opted for the private bath with jacuzzi. The bath was fed straight from the hot springs but did not have the characteristic sulphur smell. In the same area there is a suspended walkway through the tree canopy about 40 metres above ground level at the highest point. There is a platform halfway across where you can watch for wildlife but there are many tourists so the wildlife stayed away.
It's a very pleasant area although at present a little run down. The complex is government run although the accommodation has recently been taken over by the same company that runs the Sutera Harbour Resort. At present everything is quite utilitarian and a little shabby but that will probably change when the new owners begin their renovation program.
Kinabalu Park was beautifully kept and very peaceful. That too had been taken over by Sutera Harbour but the renovation program was well on it's way and our cabin although simple was comfortable, tastefully decorated and the whole area clean and well kept. From the front of the cabin we had a view of the mountain looming above the tree line. We had already decided not to climb it but we walked many of the lower trails around the park. We walked to the gate where those doing the climb pick up their compulsory guides. There is no access through the gate without a permit. The mountain is 4,095 metres high. Those climbing it start in the morning of the first day stopping for the night at the Laban Rata Resthouse at about 3,200 metres then start at around 3 a.m. the next morning to reach the peak at sunrise. They then come all the way back down on the same day and many then go to Poring Hot Springs to soak their aching muscles. In the park area there is a mountain garden where many rare species of plants which grow at various places on the mountain have been brought together.  Altogether we found it very peaceful and relaxing, definitely somewhere to return to if we had the time.

Monday 5th July - Thursday 8th July
Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre/Kinabatangan River
The plan for this trip was to fly to Sandakan, spend a few days at Uncle Tan's Jungle Camp then a day at the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre.
We took the 8:00 a.m. flight to Sandakan which took only 40 minutes, then a taxi to Uncle Tan's B&B arriving around 9:30 a.m. The bus/boat to the jungle camp doesn't leave until 2:30 so the guys at Uncle Tan's suggested we spent the morning at Sepilok and they would arrange transport there and back. It seemed like a good idea so by 9:50 we were making our way to the jungle platform at Sepilok to catch the 10:00 feeding.
At Sepilok they take in orphaned or injured orang utans or those found being kept illegally as pets. Some are helpless babies and initially have to be cared for in much the same way as human babies. As they get older they are encouraged to venture into the jungle and taught to climb and swing just as their mothers would have taught them in the wild. As they become more comfortable in the jungle they spend less time at the rehabilitation centre. Twice a day food and drinks are put on platforms in the jungle to supplement those that need it. When the rehabilitation centre staff consider an orang utan to be comfortable in the jungle and able to survive alone he/she is transported to a much larger jungle area and set free. We watched some young orang utans come to the platform to feed. They share about 96% of their genes with humans and we could easily observe the similarities.
After returning to Uncle Tan's B&B we were taken by minibus to the River Kinabatangan then up the river by boat. The whole trip took about 2 hours. The jungle camp is about 5 - 7 minutes walk into the jungle from the boat landing. It consists of several open fronted shelters built on stilts each containing 3 or 4 mattresses each with it's own mosquito net. The shelters are connected by a raised walkway to the common/eating areas and kitchen at one end with a toilet/washroom block off to one side. In the wet season the water source is rain water otherwise it comes from the river and can be a little muddy.
The usual program is 3 days and 2 nights although we extended that by an extra day. At around 9:00 p.m. the first evening we were taken up the river by boat. You can spot the animals by the reflection of the torchlight in their eyes. We saw Buffy Owls and the eyes of baby crocodiles just above the water level. We also saw a leopard cat briefly before it disappeared into the jungle.
The next morning at 6:30 a.m. we went up the river again by boat and this time were able to see numerous long-tailed macaques, proboscis monkeys, a mature male orang utan, a 3½ metre crocodile, many birds including egrets, oriental darters, 4 species of hornbill, kingfishers, cormorants and a fish eagle.
The next part of the program is a jungle trek at around 10:00 a.m. The animals are very quiet and sleepy at this time so we were mainly looking at insects and plant life although we were lucky enough to find another orang utan sitting in the top of a tree feeding. The afternoon is free until around 5:00 p.m. Some people dozed in hammocks others walked to a lake close by to sit quietly and watch the wildlife. There were proboscis monkeys crashing around in the trees on the far side of the lake. They look very clumsy when they launch themselves from the top of one tree into the foliage of the next. There were also monitor lizards swimming in the lake catching fish and egrets and kingfishers also fishing.
At 5:00 p.m. there is another river safari and at this time the animals are more active. There are innumerable long tailed macaques along the river banks and proboscis monkeys crashing through the tree tops.
In the evening we have a jungle walk and the guide teaches us to spot insects and frogs by the reflection of their eyes in the torchlight. We could see the eyes of many spiders. At night as well as spiders we found tree frogs, millipedes, centipedes and scorpions. We also found some sleeping birds. The small birds sleep at the tips of very thin branches so if a snake tried to crawl up the branch during the night the movement would wake them.
We found the whole trip most enjoyable and relaxing although if we went again I would probably want to take my own sheet and airbed. The wildlife was fascinating.

Kota Kinabalu
During our time in KK when we haven't been elsewhere in Sabah we have been completing a PADI Divemaster Course. There are 2 ways of doing this course - one is to speed through it as quickly as possible with situations simulated by the instructors, this takes around 13 days, the other is to do it as an internship which takes much longer but is less frenetic and more realistic. Under the internship system we go along to the diveshop most days and if there are courses go along to observe then assist. If leisure divers are going out we accompany them first then later take divers on our own. In between times we fit in the various skills such as rescue scenarios, learning to demonstrate diving skills with a view to helping learner divers overcome difficulties and complete timed swimming tests. It's a lot of fun and has considerably improved our diving skills. At the completion of the course we would be qualified to work in dive shops assisting on courses and taking out leisure divers. We have no intention of working in a dive shop on a regular basis but the occasional bit of casual work leading to some cheap diving would be quite useful.
We will be returning to the UK for 2 months at the end of July to visit family and friends. On our return to KK our intention is to continue westwards then work our way up the west side of Peninsular Malaysia to Thailand.

Friday July 17th
Today we completed our divemaster course so I guess we're now fully qualified divemasters. Many thanks to Mark as instructor and Helen as divemaster at Sabah Divers here in KK.